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Build It Yourself or Buy It?

John Culshaw, Associate Director for Administrative Services at the University of Colorado Boulder, explores the critical question of whether to build or buy library systems. With 30,000 students and a mid-sized ARL library holding 3.8 million volumes, the decision impacts functionality, finances, and staffing. Culshaw discusses the successful integration of the Millennium platform and partnerships such as Encore, emphasizing the importance of stable, consistent systems and user community support. He acknowledges challenges while advocating for continued investment in vendor relationships and monitoring open-source developments.

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Build It Yourself or Buy It?

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  1. Build It Yourself or Buy It? John Culshaw Professor and Associate Director for Administrative Services University of Colorado at Boulder

  2. University Profile • 30,000 students • Mid-sized ARL library (3.8m volumes, $9.63m resources budget) • Innovative Interfaces ILS since 1994 • 54 librarians, 109 support staff

  3. ILS Platforms • Founding member of Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries • CARL’s Public Access Catalog (PAC) deployed in library since inception in 1984 • Migrated to INNOPAC in 1994 • Committed to Millennium platform in 1999 • Adopted Encore discovery layer in 2009.

  4. Other Critical Services • Digital Library: Luna Insight • Repository: Alliance Digital Repository (ADR)

  5. Why Buy It? • Functionality • Partnerships • Campus Environment • Finances and Staffing

  6. Functionality • Need for stable, consistent systems • Millennium continues to meet needs • Open source ILS platforms not fully fleshed out

  7. Partnership • Partnership works • Development partnerships • Strong user community

  8. Partnership: Encore Selection • Seamless integration with Millennium platform • Real-time circulation information • Single-sign on • Electronic resource data • Integration with Prospector

  9. Campus Environment • Campus also advocates buy-it approach • New SIS – PeopleSoft • Tested Sakai – kept WebCT • Need infrastructure improvements

  10. Finances and Staffing

  11. John Culshaw ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR FOR ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES # 001596651 FTE Rani Machoi Interim Libraries IT Dept. Director #159767 & 150002 1 FTE Rani Machoi IT Professional IV #107573 1 FTE Holley Long Digital InitiativesAsst. Professor #0065963 1 FTE Richard Losoff IT Professional I #00677399 1 FTE Michael Riberdy Media Specialist IV #00103357 1 FTE Mark Sondergard IT Professional I#104889 1 FTE John Dziadecki IT Technician II #100256 1 FTE Justin Van Voorst IT Professional I#106236 1 FTE Hans Schmidt IT Professional I #107258 1 FTE Tim Leal IT Technician II#107791 1 FTE

  12. University of Colorado Libraries Budget

  13. Staffing • Picture even more challenging when compared to AAU peers • Ratio of librarians to students • Ratio of library IT staff to students • Ratio of library IT staff to total staff

  14. “The support for community-driven software development in higher education is at a relatively young, fragile stage and needs to be embraced by a wider variety of institutions.” -- Robert McDonald

  15. Challenge? Dilemma? • Maintain existing service levels • Consider current budgeting and staffing models

  16. Our Strategy • Continue to buy • Maintain strong partner relationships with vendors • Monitor open source trends • Continually lobby for increased resources.

  17. Sources ARL Statistics 2006-2007. Washington DC: Association of College and Research Libraries, 2008. Fisher, Steve P. “Research Library Collaboration in Colorado – The Birth and Early Evolution of CARL, the Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries.” Collaborative Librarianship 1:3 (2009), 91-98. McDonald, Robert H. “Sustainable Communities for Software: Variations on a Theme.” EDUCAUSE Review 44:5 (September/October 2009), 6-7.

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